In the past five years, however, financing options have reduced upfront costs and been a huge driver for residential solar power growth.
If they are a success, SunWater plans to use a leasing model to reduce upfront costs.
"While the change will help first-time buyers access the market by reducing upfront costs, in the long-term they'll be no better off.
He added: "While the change will help first-time buyers access the market by reducing upfront costs, in the long-term they'll be no better off.
The biggest benefit of this is that it significantly reduces upfront costs and footprint.
The LIHTC is an indirect federal subsidy that gives tax incentives for investors in affordable housing by reducing upfront costs.
In some cases, the equipment may be owned by the provider, which further reduces upfront costs but may increase monthly fees.
In any case, a leasing program that reduces upfront costs, is an important way to ease municipalities into making the switch.
Even within the hosted VoIP market, which offers generally lower upfront costs than doing it yourself, providers may offer several ways to reduce upfront costs of buying or leasing the necessary IP phones.
Rather than ask customers to purchase ShotSpotter's equipment--a series of sensors that act like large microphones spread throughout a city, constantly listening for gunshots--the company would lease the system, reducing upfront costs.
Ironically, the rebates--designed to reduce upfront costs--may have created so much demand that product prices could rise 5%to10%0% by the end of the year, said David Catz, Northern California-based director of distribution for Schott Applied Power.
